Piper maclurei Merrill.

Climbers woody, to 10 m tall, dioecious. Stems drying pale brown, 2-3 mm thick, ridged, glabrous. Petiole 2-5 mm on wider side, pubescent; prophyll 2-3 mm; leaf blade oblong to ovate-oblong, rarely elliptic, (9-)12-17 × (2.7-)4-9 cm, leathery, pellucid dotted, abaxially sparsely villous, adaxially glabrous, base obliquely cordate, basal lobes usually overlapping, bilateral difference 4-5 mm, apex shortly acuminate; veins pinnate, ca. 9 per side, apical pair arising 5-8 cm above base, next pair thickest, usually 1-1.5 cm above base, reaching middle of leaf blade, looped, others conspicuous, ± basal; reticulate veins prominent. Spikes leaf-opposed. Male spikes ca. 10 cm × 4 mm; peduncle 1-1.5 cm, glabrous; rachis pubescent; bracts broadly obovate, ca. 1.3 × 1 mm, peltate, ciliate. Stamens 2; filaments thick, ca. 1.2 mm. Female spikes ca. 10 cm at anthesis, to 15 × 1.5-2.2 cm in fruit; rachis, densely rough pubescent; bracts obovate-oblong, adnate to rachis. ca. 2 × 1.1 mm, margin free, ciliate. Ovary ovoid; stigmas 4, apex acute. Drupe subglobose, ca. 5 mm in diam., base tapered into a stalk ca. as long as fruit. Fl. Aug-Dec.

Piper laetispicum is closely related to P. politifolium C. de Candolle, from Vietnam, and may have to be included within that species. The name "P. latispicum" C. de Candolle (Candollea 1: 230. 1923) is apparently an orthographic error for this species.

* Forests, on trees or rocks; 100-600 m. S Guangdong, Hainan